Flood Mitigation Assistance Program

 

The Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program was created as part of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 4101) with the goal of reducing or eliminating claims under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Funding for the program is provided through the NFIP. The FMA program provides funding to assist States and communities in implementing measures to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other structures insurable under the NFIP. To be eligible to apply for FMA grants, a community must both participate and be in good standing in the NFIP, as well as have an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Hazard Mitigation Plan must include mitigation actions that support the proposed project. Additionally, a letter of support from the county emergency management agency director is needed for each application.

Eligible activities for the FMA Grant Program include:

  • Property Acquisition and Structure Demolition or Relocation
  • Structure Elevation
  • Dry Flood-Proofing
  • Minor Localized Flood Reduction Projects
  • Hazard Mitigation Planning (Flood Portion)
  • Non-structural Retrofitting of Existing Buildings and Facilities
  • Management Costs

States are encouraged by FEMA to prioritize FMA project grant applications that include Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) Properties. These include structures with four or more losses each with a claim of at least $5,000 and with the cumulative amount of such claims payments exceeding $20,000; or for which at least 2 separate claims payments have been made with the cumulative amounts exceeding the market value of the structure. State and communities are also encouraged to develop Hazard Mitigation Plans that address the mitigation of repetitive loss properties.

FMA's overall goal is "to fund cost-effective measures that reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other NFIP-insurable structures."

Project Funding

Cost share availability under the FMA Grant program depends on the type of properties included in the grant. Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) Properties may receive up to 100 percent federal funding and Repetitive Loss (RL) Properties may receive up to 90 percent federal funding. Insured properties and planning grants may receive up to 75 percent of the eligible cost of activities. The non-federal share may be met with cash, contributions, certain other grants such as Community Development Block Grants, Increased Cost of Compliance flood insurance payments, or in-kind services.

FEMA Grants Outcome (FEMA GO) is the grants management system to use for applying for the Building Resilient Infrastructures and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) non-disaster hazard mitigation grant programs. FEMA GO will replace the FEMA Mitigation eGrants system and will remain online to manage fiscal year 2019 and prior year grants. To ensure efficient grant application development and submittal, interested applicants should create an account with the new FEMA GO system as soon as possible here.

Technical Assistance

GEMA/HS Hazard Mitigation staff offers technical assistance to local governments for project identification and application preparation. All applications start with the completion of a pre-application which is available for download here.

Additional information about the FMA program is available on FEMA’s website here.

Current Grant Information

Pre-applications for the FMA program are accepted by the GEMA/HS Hazard Mitigation Department on a rolling basis. Please contact (404) 635-7522 or [email protected] for more information.